Mapperley Park Clinic

Lasers, IPLs and the law

You may not know that in October 2010, Government deregulated the use of Lasers and IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) treatments in England, although they are still regulated in Wales and were never regulated in Scotland.

Some lasers however are still regulated, that is those lasers operated by Medical Professionals who are now regulated both by CQC (Care Quality Commission) and by their own professional regulators such as the GMC (General Medical Council) and NMC (Nursing & Midwifery Council).

Non-medical professionals are not now regulated by the CQC but may find themselves regulated by Local Authority Environmental Health Departments or they may not be regulated in any way at all.

This is still referred to by the Department of Health as 'Proportional Regulation'.

Confused? You should be. This scheme was opposed by all medical opinion during a dishonest Goverment consultation in 2009 as a recipe for disaster and the results now unfold with the public unsure about what is required of a laser service.

The most appalling outcome of this political act (to reduce the burden of regulation) has been to reduce the burden so much that unregulated laser practitioners are not even required to undertake any training.

It is possible now to buy a cheap 'laser' online from China for $1000, copy the information and sales messages from a registered provider to a cheap website and offer this service to the public despite having no experience, no expertise and no training. How do we know all of this? Because it is happening around us in Nottingham right now.

How can you be sure that the service you are seeking is safe?

Make sure that they are a Medical Provider registered with the CQC. Mapperley Park has been registered with the relevant authorities since 1993 and are experts in the field of lasers and cosmetic medicine.

You can be sure of your safety and the standard of the treatment that you will receive here and if not, we have a statutory complaints procedure in place to ensure that we are accountable to you, the client.

Won't Mapperley Park be more expensive than a cheap provider?

Not necessarily - the cheap providers will be trying to piggy-back on the service that we provide and the reputation that we have built and will use our price structure on which to base their own, so costs may well be much the same.

So, do you want to pay your money and get access to a Registered clinic with nearly 20 years of experience and £1million of lasers - or pay the same and find an unskilled operator and a $1000 laser in a nail-bar?

The choice is yours, but when it comes to your own skin, we would advise seeking out the best, not the cheapest.

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